Ink Hands
by Vidna Sphinx
Summary: AU. Inside has more details. He was a beast, he did not belong amongst them. He lived to kill, and he was a sinner. He was no longer Edward Elric.
1. Enter a Beast

And yes. I wrote a new story when I should be writing chapters for Death of a Believer. But I got curious, and liked the prospect of all chaos ensuring from mixed up places. Or something like that. I must warn you - Ed is the bad guy in this. And almost all the others are good guys. That means Envy is too! xD No, actually Envy is neutral. D: And he likelike Beast Ed. (: I think. Anyways, read it. I think it is pretty damn cool. It might end up being a M rated fic eventually, due to the soon to be violent plotline.

Disclaimer - I don't own FMA. This is the ONLY disclaimer I'm going to put up.

Warnings - Violence, death reference, insanity, madness, messed up character positions (not in the sick way, child molesters!), etc etc.

-

**Ink Hands**

"He lived. He laughed. He killed. He died with his heart in his hands," - Unknown

_Blood._

_The sickening crimson liquid was everywhere – the walls, the floor, the furniture, the window, his hands, and his body. The liquid dried black, letting none of the white enter the place._

_Pain._

_It wracked his senses by the second – his whole body was on fire. Burning, aching pain. Colors exploded behind closed eyelids, his stomach clenched at the sheer force of the pain._

_Tears._

_The salty liquid ran down his face – clearing away the dried blood, as it always did. Drip drop, the tears fell to the floor, causing spots of clear in the black._

_Silence._

_It had to be the most overwhelming of them all – the aching nothingness, the fact that no sound, no emotion reached his ears. So he clawed at them, those ears that refused to work at this second._

_Madness._

_He knew what he was – he was mad. Kill, kill, kill it all. Kill the body, kill the mind, kill the emotion, kill the heart, and most importantly, kill the soul. And he had done so, so he was mad. He had destroyed himself. Yes. He had._

_The faces on those people when he was killed, was hilarious. So funny. To see his brother crumble down with tears, to see the blond woman scream and shout. To see the Colonel beg him to come back, and to see the bastard himself break down and beg his son to be kind once more. It was too late, he didn't deserve it. He had sinned to much – he would die. He would die happily, his heart in his hands. He hadn't placed the heart there in his white gloves, no it had been the very ones who begged for him to come back. But they didn't know him. They had never seen him except to fight him. They had believed he was a monster, and ripped his heart out, figuratively and literally._

_And it was, the slowly dieing organ rested in his palms as he lay in the dry grass. Slowly, ever so slowly he closed his golden eyes._

_Then the golden haired boy whispered, "I'm dead." With that he was dead. Dead was he to everything._

The golden haired boy shot up – his mind and body burning from the nightmare. His breath was terribly shaky, coming out in brief pants. Sweat made his pajamas cling to his body. "Just a dream, just a dream, you know they don't know who you are," he chanted to himself, looking around warily as if to see the people from the nightmare come rushing towards him.

That wouldn't happen, none of it could. After all, they didn't know who he was. All they would know was the uncertain information from his younger brother Al – who claimed he had a brother. Still, he had carefully erased his existence. There would be no pictures, information, or clothing, nothing to show he had ever been there. Of course Al's word was sure enough to prove the golden haired boy existed. It seemed humans were more interesting than he first thought. They could believe others who truly believed in something with all their heart. He could never be like that.

No – he, Edward Elric had decided to become dead to the world. He didn't need reminding that he almost, almost tried to perform human transmutation on a _dead _body. No, he wouldn't. He couldn't, because he had known that his brother would have been gone. So he disappeared the very hour before the two were to perform the transmutation on the dead body that was their mother. Edward Elric had ceased to exist in that hour. Completely, except in the memory of his brother, and the people of Resembol. That was probably why people were still searching for him to this day. He didn't need "saving" as they put it, he needed nothing of the sort. His will, yes it was something like that that had made him leave. Either will, or pure paranoia.

"I think to much about it," he snorted. The golden haired boy knew he talked to himself, after all there was no one else to talk to in his isolation. Sure – he went into civilization a lot - after all he wasn't a complete monster - in need of supplies. But there was no one to talk to there, and little reason to find someone to speak with. Once or twice a military officer would ask him his name, and the boy would reply with a random name and be sent on his way.

Slowly he decided he would go to the nearest town, he was in need of some knew clothing and seeds for the garden that grew outside of his lonely cabin in the mountains. "And I think I'll get rose seeds, to add some life to this drab old house," he announced to the air, feeling a breeze stir with recognition of the monster in human flesh. "Hm, no you have to stay here, breeze, I don't think humans want a breeze messing with them, but don't worry, I'll by you a wind chime to play with," he informed the now happy breeze. Now positive that the breeze wouldn't follow him, the blond stepped into the humid summer air.

Trudging in the direction of the village, his leather boots thudding against the old dirt path, he had know idea something bad would happen. None at all – he had know idea that this would cause the worst to happen. Being found, and "saved".

-

Envy really couldn't believe, no he couldn't believe it at all. In fact, the very thought caused him to laugh aloud. Scaring the nervous military officers that were on _his _side. It was so hilarious, really. That 'Father' finally got what was coming to him – he got eaten by that King Bradley. So hilarious, but that meant that Envy had to obey the homunculus – or should he say 'New Father' – with everything. Most everything, after all now the previous Father and Bradley were now one. So it didn't make a difference as long as he could kill.

The sin had been sent to this hick mountain village with General Mustang and his troops because something suspicious was happening. Suspicious being that it could not happen unless something inhuman had taken residence somewhere within the village. There were no animals wandering the mountains – the whole place was eerily silent, not even an insect dared buzz. The village animals were out of their wits with fear, the cows refused to be milked, the chickens smashed their eggs, and the horses wouldn't stand. It was unthinkable to happen, even homunculus did not scare animals this much.

The General was busy listening to a villager who explained what was happening.

"This – this only happens to our animals when that boy comes," the villager spoke, fear lacing every word. His eyes were darting back and forth, as if expecting someone to come out at any second and kill him.

"Boy?" questioned the Flame Alchemist, deciding silently, and knowingly by Envy and the four or five other officers there, that whoever this boy was would be their target of capture.

"Ye- Yes. He's a blond haired boy with golden eyes, he lives deep within the mountains, and comes down every month for supplies. He- We- I- We are all afraid of him, his terrible, terrible, cold eyes. He'll kill us! I'm sure! That's what he wants, we can see it. In his eyes, those cold eyes, you can see he is a beast! A terrible beast! Surely, surely you'll take him away?" the frantic man was gasping now, his eyes flickering back and forth.

"That is our mission – to stop this unusual activity, to return this place back to normal. So it seems we'll have to take him, perhaps even kill him if he proves to be a threat. From which way will this boy come?" the General asked coldly, keeping the fact that he was delighted in finding someone they did not have to kill.

"Th- That one, sir," the man whispered pointing to the old path that was just barely visible from the point where the group was.

The General simply gave a nod, and Envy and troops followed him to the path, awaiting the "beast" as the villager had called him.

The boy had come sooner than they had expected, they saw him trudging in a bored manner towards the village. He only looked up when he right in front of Roy who snapped, "Halt, boy."

The blond boy snorted then looked up at the taller man, malice lacing his indifferent look. "Why should I, General Roy Mustang?"

Roy opened his mouth in astonishment, this unknown child already figured out who he was with a glance. Sure his outfit spoke for the General part, but no one really knew him by Roy Mustang except for the people in his troop at this moment. So who was this boy? "I hear you are the cause for all the strangeness going around the village, boy. I'd rather call you by name since you know mine, what is your name, boy?"

"'I don't have one' is what I'd like to say, but it seems that won't due," the boy sighed, "Edward Elric was my name, if you must know."

Roy's eyes widened as Envy's narrowed, so this was the supposed older brother of the famous state alchemist – Alphonse Elric. "Was?" echoed Envy, his suspicions increasing.

"Yes, was. I erased myself from the world, and I'd like to continue to do so," Ed's voice turned cold.

"You're brother is worried, you will come with us, or you will die. I'm sure you know that, Elric," the General replied icily. The guns of the officers were pointed at the blond boy, preventing escape. Envy simply grinned, hoping the boy would resist. But his hope was quickly shattered.

"Very well, If I must be a beast, I will not die like one," Ed stated, indifference lacing his tone. "Then let's go to Central – that's where _he_ is, correct?"

With that the group set off to go to Central, hoping the reunion would be a happy one. They were dead wrong. (A/N – Ohmyf- I've always wanted to use that line. xD)

-

"Brother!? It is you! It is!" the cheerful, younger Elric cried, attempting to glomp the older and shorter boy. He failed when the blond boy stepped to the side, sending Al to crash into the wall.

"Wah... Aren't you happy to see me?" whined Al, looking at his brother with puppy dog eyes that no one could resist.

The blond boy remained indifferent, and sighed. Here come the tears. "I'm not Edward Elric anymore, I erased that self long ago. And for a good reason, if I had not you would have been dead. Now I simply do not have a name, I am a Beast, if you must," he was sure the indifference in his voice didn't help at all.

"B- Bu- But you're brother! I know you are!" Al cried, his hands balling up into fists.

"I am not. I was, but I am no longer your brother. In fact – I'm no longer human," was the cool answer.

"Envy's not human either, and people except him!" Al protested, pointing at the sin, who was rather annoyed at just being pointed out.

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean, brat!?" the sin growled, glaring at the younger boy. He did not like being referred to as a monster flat out like that, it aggravated him greatly.

"Envy is a sin – made from human emotion, of course humans can except their emotions, it's only common sense. I am not a sin, more or less anything related to humanity anymore. I'm a Beast, those are fine, dividing lines, Alphonse," the blond boy spoke, interrupting the sin from whatever he had been about to do with the cool, crisp anger lining his voice.

"Brother..." the younger trailed off, approaching his brother, in attempt to calm the boy down, "But... isn't it fine if only a few people can except you?"

"I erased my old self for a reason. It is because it would've been gone sooner or later, anyways. I like the me as I am now, this one I like. I'd like you not to ruin it all. I can let humanity get to me, or my mind, my emotions, my heart, my body, my soul, and more importantly my inhumanity," he snapped, heading for the exit. However the General stopped him by causing an explosion of flames in which his arm was caught, removing the limb from his body and disintegrating it. The blond boy grit his teeth as the limb that grew in the others place formed. So the pain had come back, back again it had. How pitiful. The ink shadows retreated from the new limb and disappeared before any of the others could see them.

In the confusion, he was gone. He left the fools as he decided to wander around Central, after all it wouldn't hurt to be slightly curious as what was happening in the outside world at this point.

-

Done. Kinda rushed, but whatever. C:

R&R please, and thank you.


	2. Monster Monster On the Wall

Tweet. I wrote another chapter already, and I thank people who review. (: You people's are so nice. So anyways, I had the decency to not describe the killing in much detail, I find some people dislike that. Spoil sports. D: Anyways I also put a bit of a Envy/BeastEd scene in the beginning. It's not a real one like the few in Death of a Believer, but whatever. Get over it. C:

**Warnings** - Killing, violence, Envy, Ed, madness, etc etc.

-

**Ink Hands**

"If it's broken fix it. Don't just stand there crying, stupid boy." - Vin (A/N – That's me! :D)

-

_Cold._

_It was ice to the touch – his skin. His lips, his body. Cold. Cold, ever so cold. The frightening chill crept up his spine, eating away at the warmth that was his humanity. _

_Sleep._

_Dulled by the need of it he walked on, letting the world blend into blacks and whites instead of brilliant colors. He did not need colors, he only needed the black on white of a beast._

_Kill._

_It was the first time he had made the crimson liquid flow from another being, the first time he had watched the red turn to black. Watch it dry on his hands, and tempted, ever so tempted, he licked the liquid from his hands. It was sweet._

_Fear._

_It was a dizzyingly delicious and terrifying feeling to be the one parents warn their child of. No. He didn't find it terrifying, he found it simply delicious. To bask in the sheer terror of a beast that walked in human form, it was delicious._

_Monster._

_That's what the woman had called him, a monster. A flesh eating monster. It was not his fault he could not remember his humanity, no matter how he tried. A kill became enticing, so he was a monster. Not a single human could save him, a fake human then, he decided, would save this monster. But how?_

_A cold knife glinted against his throat, warning the boy not to take a step further. Yet the boy did, he reached out with a clawed hand, and pulled the man's wrist from his arm. The blood flowed freely, splattering all over. Golden eyes watched the torrent of liquid in amazement, surprised that anything could have such a beautiful life source. Blood, it fascinated him, who did not bleed as easily. Whose mind and body were both dead to the laws of the world, of this creature called 'God'. The very man who had threatened him was now praying to this God, and the blond beast decided he had had enough of the nonsense prayers. So he attacked._

_He used his teeth to rip the man's throat out, reveling in the taste of blood in his mouth. So sweet was the blood, that he wanted the man to bleed more. The human was dead, and that left him unsatisfied. Yet he was, something in his mind clicked, telling him that one was enough for now. So he obeyed, leaving the dead man in the street. A breeze ruffled his hair almost lovingly, and whispered in his ear, "I am here, I will be here, even if no one else is, to offer my presence in the very least."_

_Then all was quiet as beast and breeze left the dead body, leaving only the glow of the beast's golden eyes to reflect in the darkness._

The blond sat up once more in cold sweat, body shaking from the nightmare. He took in a slow breath, and glanced around the room. He spotted the other that was laying on the couch – Envy, wasn't? That's right, he had returned shortly after his walk around Central during which he decided that humans really couldn't save him. Besides that, he was freezing. Drawing the blanket up around him, the boy curled up. The cold still crept through his toes, down his spine, to kill the warmth that was left of his humanity.

With his eyes closed tight, he did not see the sin get up groggily from the couch and saunter over towards the freezing boy. Nor did he notice then sin laying another blanket over him until the cold was suddenly pushed from his body. That made his eyes snap open to see a sea of violet. "Wha-?" he squeaked pulling away from the sin's face, his muscles coiled to flee if the sin had ill intent.

"Calm down, little beast," the sin whispered, his voice held an off tone, "I won't kill you, unless you prove to be useless, which I doubt." The blond found little comfort in the sin's words and growled lowly, glaring all the while. "I said calm down," the sin repeated, and gave an indifferent look to the blond's glare.

Gold stared into violet for a minute longer before the blond went, "Tch," and closed his eyes once more to block out the cold. He slowly slipped into a dreamless sleep, aware of the sin's constant gaze.

-

Roy decided he did not like the blond's gaze that coldly calculated the worth of everything he saw, whether what it was that held his temporary interest was worthy of the attention or not. He didn't even bother to keep his gaze on a human for longer than a second, and his cold gaze kept returning to the wild haired sin, who was throwing daggers into the ceiling, every other glance. Honestly, the tension in the air was great. Especially since the blond hadn't even laid eyes on Alphonse, who was fidgeting nervously in his seat.

"Edward-" he was cut off in his addressing of the blond.

"Beast," the blond boy supplied, firmly keeping away from being given a human name once more.

"-Elric, tell me exactly why you left your brother to fend for himself, and become an alchemist of state," he continued as if the boy hadn't even interrupted. Firmly deciding that calling the boy – who was probably no older than sixteen – by his name, even if to convince the boy he was still human. Even Roy wasn't to certain if the boy was human or not at this point.

"I don't have to," was the chilling reply.

"You must," the dark-haired man insisted.

"Or what?" mocked the cold voice.

"I will be forced to use drastic measures," was his reply. Refusing to play games with the blond.

"Hm? You mean like torture, and threats? Sorry torture doesn't work – I can't feel, and you have nothing to threaten me about, sir," the boy ended in a mocking tone.

"Fine then, tell me at least, why you insist you are not human," Roy pleaded, wanting to get at least one answer from the boy.

The Beast pondered this for a second before answering, "Because, I know. I killed the humanity in me a long time ago, it no longer exists except for a tiny drop. I enjoy killing – but I do not kill unless I need to. I enjoy the sight of blood, I find the taste of blood delicious. I find that if I forget that I have a will of my own, I turn into a wild, crazed creature that will not stop till it has worn out its bone and blood. That, Mustang, is why I am a Beast, not a human."

Envy found an excitement build up in his stomach, uncoiling to tremble through his blood. What the boy – beast had said enticed him, lured him into wanting to know more about the creature that disguised itself in human flesh. Like himself. Yes, like himself. Envy was a monster made of human souls from long ago, a true killing monster in human flesh. And his curiosity had been peaked, and he wanted to know everything about the blond. This caused him to frown and stop throwing the dagger at the ceiling, he wanted to know? That never happened. Usually he just put up a facade that he wanted to know just to get the information for another person, never did he really want to know. Well the sin figured there was a first time for everything.

"So, you're the one who had been killing people?" Roy echoed in a ghastly tone.

"That's what I said," the blond snorted.

"Then why has no one put up information on the murders about you, Edward?" questioned the General, now wondering if it had been a good idea to bring the clearly crazed (in his eyes) blond to Central.

"'Cause no one survives," the beast answered with a slight grin. He did find all of this amusing, but staying in one spot would attract the attention of something or someone unwanted. One of the officers in this building was not of the military, and was probably from the village – to kill him. That would be fun. Plus, whoever it was was real close.

"What do you me-" the General was cut off by the audible sound of a bomb blowing up the wall – leaving a gaping hole where the bookcase had once been. Even Envy looked startled – but that was probably because he had been closest to the explosion. Ed didn't look fazed, his cold eyes were glaring at the spot, a snarl already forming in his throat.

"There you are, beast," the bomber whispered, and Ed barely recognized him. It was the village's best fighter – some upstanding brat that had been able to get into the military for his great aim. Really. So those villagers just go off and tell everyone of his existence. That was real stupid, but that made him smirk. A decent way to prove he wasn't human.

"Either that or this is a very big joint hallucination," he growled back, his fists clenching, clearly he was eager to fight. He no longer remained still, it had happened much to fast for the liking of a beast, but now his hands were wrapped around the bomber's neck. He knew his hands were leaving bruises, and would've preferred to have already killed the human. Still, he had to show how he wasn't human, it was either this way or showing them what he really was. That wouldn't go to well, so this way would be best.

"Brother! Do- Don't kill him!" cried Alphonse, clearly surprised at the fact Ed could even make a move to kill something, "It- It isn't you!"

"Yes, it is me," replied Ed before whispering into the officer's ear, "I'll probably see you when I die, right?" Then he crushed the officer's neck with ease, delighted on how the bones made a satisfying snap, and that the blood remained in the body. He couldn't let humans see him around blood, no, he wasn't himself then. And that was what was terrible about his beast-like fascination. "How boring," he growled, after all he had been expecting for the human to at least struggle.

"You- You- You're not brother! What'd you do- do with him!?" cried the sandy haired boy, feeling fear curl around his spine at the sight of his brother's 'look-a-like' killing the officer.

"Nothing," replied the blond before walking away. He wanted to do nothing with people who could not believe the truth. Breaking out into a run, he escaped from the room, and from Central's military office, not surprised to find the sin chasing after him. Not in any want of revenge of the human, he could tell that at least, but in something of curiosity. Well, he'd let the sin do what he wanted as long as he didn't get in the way of the beast.

Envy grinned like the cheshire cat when he was allowed to follow the blond. He decided quickly that this would be a beautiful partnership. In more ways than one, he would prefer.

-

Wheee And there it is. So it seems Ed and Envy shall be partners in crime. And more. Such a subtle hint of future events. xD

Erhm, anyways I have learned never to make fun of Envy's hair. Ever. Why? Because it is so DAMN hard to draw! Terrible terrible! I don't know how some of those people deal with drawing that hair! Well... anyways it could have been hard because I had to use a computer mouse and paint to draw him. D: Hm, if you want to see it, I can put up a link in my bio... But only if people ask... nicely. (:

R & R please and thank ya.


	3. Cold Water Shivers

O-kay do-kie for those of you who asked here's the link to my Envy pic – I'm not bothering to get a DA account. Yet. DA isn't working with my internet for some reason, so whatever. M'kay here's the linko –

http : / / i 2 8 7 . photo bucket . Com / album s / ll153 / vinidivat /envy . jpg

- Just make sure you remove the spaces. (: Yeah I decided to put it here in the beginning of the chapter because more people read this. I think. But whatever. Comment on my art. Not really. I'm working on drawing BeastEd, 'cause it sounds like fun-fun. :D

Well anyways this chapter was a pain in the ass to write, especially when I didn't know what to do with it. And yes I should be working on Death of a Believer, but I want both my stories to have 5 chapters before I start working on DB again. 'Cause then I can upload chapters simultaneously. :)

**Warnings** – Violence, killing, madness, Ed, Envy, etc etc.

-

**Ink Hands**

"People prove this 'God'-shit of yours wrong everyday Mr. Priest-o, but you don't do anything to prove them wrong, eh? So who's the weak, sinner now?" - Danny... My gay cousin... O-O''

Anyways let's move on to the story shall we?

-

_Warmth._

_It was warm for only a fraction of a second – his body. It was always wrapped in a chill, but just one glance made the warmth that was his humanity flare up briefly. Then he killed the warmth; as it made him weak._

_Emotion._

_They didn't show much – in fact they hardly existed. He did not let the things called 'sins', and 'virtues', and 'love', or 'hate' control him. It was much to bothersome to let silly things like that control him._

_Anger._

_The burning emotion flitted about him for a brief second before being eliminated. It still remained in the dead man's eyes. Hate for the monster, hate of god, hate of it all. Hate of the creature that killed him. Yet the killer excepted the anger with nothing._

_Touch._

_He hated it when people brushed their hands, shoulders, anything on his skin. It was disgusting, after all who knew what had been crawling all over that person? Who knew? He preferred to stay away from people who were the worst of the worst. Yet he had been foolish to think that those people would stay away from a monster. Some of them liked to try to tame a beast._

_Innocence._

_He had lost that long ago – to one of those worst of the worst people. He hadn't known the man was following, he was still traumatized of the truth that he had learned after abandoning Al to whatever would have happened to his brother. The man had smelled of alcohol, and had attacked the blond in an alley; the classic scene for things such as this._

_The blond could still feel the man's filthy hands reaching up and down – the forceful nature that just wanted lust to be satisfied. Apparently the man had been dumped by his woman, and wanted to take it out on anything. Sexually frustrated people are the most cruel. The blond still remembered the way he had killed the man afterwards, the anger in the humans eyes. Yet something, something... The satisfaction of having touched a beast, to have, to have..._

The blond awoke from his sleep on a bed of leaves with a muffled screech. His own hand preventing the noise to awaken the sin, who was asleep in the branches of an old oak tree. Sweat covered his body once more, this time from the painful memory. He didn't need to remember _it_, not at all. He had shoved the memory of _it_ deep within his mind, and had hoped it would have been forgotten. To wash away the disgusting sweat, the blond decided he would bath in the lake that the twosome were resting by.

Peeling off his clothes and leaving the haphazardly on the shore, he plunged into the ice cold water, and feared the splash had awaken the sin. Thankfully it hadn't, so he calmed down slightly before diving into the deeper water. The cool water felt delicious, forcing away the fearful memory with a chill – the easiest way for him to erase any unwanted memories. Finding a strangely shallow amongst the deep water, he reminded himself that lake bottoms constantly change due to waves. Or some thing like that. While standing in the waste deep water, he failed to notice that his braid had become undone, and a certain sin was waking up.

(A/N – I bet 'cha think you know what's gunna happen, huh? 'Cause you're prol'y right. :D)

The first splash had caused the sin to twitch, but the splash from the dive caused him to wake up. He swore irritably that he would personally kill whatever had awoken him, and his eyebrow ticked lightly as the splashes continued. Violent eyes flicked over to the lake intent on finding their victim – but stopped short when the saw the nude blond.

"Damn – he's pretty sexy," muttered the sin, deciding this had been a very good idea, "He'd be sexier if he was..." The sin trailed off, thinking very... to put it mildly perverse thoughts. And that's mildly people. Mild. So what are the not mild thoughts? That's classified information. (A/N – Hah. :P) He began to ponder if the blond would kill the sin if he went over and basically glomped the kid. On second thought, he didn't care.

Slowly and soundlessly the sin dropped from the tree (A/N – Baby birdie! 'Kay I'll shut up now. :3) and stalked over to the shore. He contemplated whether to undress or not, but decided against it. 'Cause the blond would definitely kill him them, and the sin couldn't deal with pain all to well. He froze at the feeling of cold water, but continued to soundlessly wade towards the blond. When he was right behind the smaller boy, he wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders, and whispered, "Gotcha chibi-chan," in the blond's ear.

The blond didn't react at first but when knowledge that the sin was to- hugging him, he pulled away sharply stumbling backwards. The sin caught his wrist so the blond didn't fall, but he was still staring up at the taller boy with something akin to surprised fear in those golden eyes. "Don't be such a scared-y cat, chibi-chan," the wild haired sin whispered cheerfully.

"E- Envy, wh- what was _that_!?" The blond hardly ever stammered.

"A hug, chibi," the sin informed as if it were obvious.

"I know _that_, but _why_?" Should have worded it like that earlier.

"'Cause you looked in need of one, chibi-chan. What you don't like it?" The sin tried his best hurt puppy look, and it succeeded.

"Er- It's not that I don't li..." The blond's voice trailed off into a mutter then he got louder at the second part, "Did you just give me a pet name?" He sounded incredulous.

"Yeah? What's so bad about it, chibi-chan?" The homunculus found he liked they way something akin to anger flashed over the blond's face at being given a pet name.

"Two thing. One being I AM NOT S-" There was a pause as the boy decided not to continue his rant, "- Second it makes us sound like... Er..."

"Lovers?"

"Y- Yeah..."

"What's so bad about that?"

"We- We're not..." The blond had never stammered so much. Damn sin.

"We could be..." The sin trailed off suggestively.

"Damn it! Envy! Enough of this!" The blond wade back to shore, ending the awkward conversation. Envy sighed, it seemed _his_ beast-chan had had a bad experience with, erhm, people and... Something. He could fix that. Oh yes, he could. And would. A smile appeared on his lips as he began to wade back to shore.

-

General Roy Mustang was furious – beyond furious. He was royally pissed. The scorch marks all over his office proved so, and also proved he was a true blue (or should it be red?) pyromaniac.

"General get back to work," commanded Hawkeye as she placed the gun to the Flame Alchemist's temple.

"Yes, ma'am," muttered the General as he returned to writing up the reports on the extent of the damage the bomb, and the blond boy had done. "We'll have to put up a wanted poster for Edward Elric, wanted alive because we believe he is not himself. Al even said that his brother would never do something like that, so we are going to have to question the fake one to find the location of the real Ed."

"I see," was Hawkeye's response as she removed the safety on the gun. So then the General got to work on the wanted poster, and the report. Double time because Hawkeye would shoot... Probably would shoot. Not would.

-

All Done. Done. Done. Done. (: Anyways I had a similar awkward conversation with Eon. Damn him.

Eon: It's not nice to damn people, Vin.

Vin: I do what I damn well please.

Eon: Anyways, are you going to tell them you're special "offer".

Vin: Oh yeah. (: If you guys have any requests for a EnvyxPride!Ed, EnvyxEd, or EnvyxBeastEd oneshot, tell me. I'll write. But only for the first three – THREE, 3 – people who have sensible ideas.

Eon: That's a bit-

Vin: No one cares. 8U Anyways I like sensible ideas, they make you look smart.

R & R please and thank yar.


	4. Trickery & Truth

Uh, short chapter. (:

**Warnings** – Violence, killing, madness, Ed, Envy, etc etc.

**Ink Hands**

Trickery & Truth

-

The blond woke to a dull throbbing in his head, and the sounds of guns being pointed at him. _Why...?_ Oh, that's right this was all Envy's fault. The sin had tricked him! Then again, you really couldn't trust anyone these days, especially when they are known for trickery and deceit. It turned out that the sin had been employed to follow him everywhere, and drag the blond back to the military if he had decided to flee. He huffed darkly, blowing away the bangs that brushed over his eyes. Glaring up at the soldiers, he noted a smug Envy and General walking towards him with a sheepish looking Al.

"Where's it all gone?" he muttered as soon as the threesome had stopped in front of him.

"Where's...? Stop trying to confuse us, fake, where is the real Edward Elric?" demanded the General, glaring down at the blond.

"The real one? I don't know, maybe the Gate _ate_ him, or maybe you are just too blind that you can't see him right in _front of you_," the blond growled, his features taking on animal qualities.

"The what ate him?" asked Mustang and Al at the same time.

"The Gate, what you meet when you perform human transmutations. It takes something from you in order to access it, that's why Edward Elric left. 'Cause he figured that out, and left," the blond answered.

"So brother left to protect me...?" mumbled Al.

"Uh-huh."

"Then you know where he is!"

"I doubt that, after all I am Edward Elric, and I performed human transmutation on myself shortly after I left you," the blond mused.

"Is that even possible?" questioned Mustang.

"Sure, if it doesn't work on dead ones, shouldn't it work on live ones? After all - the living have souls. This of course stole my humanity, or rather not that simple thing, turned me into something worse than a homunculus, and threw me into a human shell of my previous self... Yeah, that's what happened," he said in a cheerful tone, considering the fact that this all had made him lose all sense of self, and fear human emotions beyond belief.

The blond wasn't really paying much attention to the human chatter that was going on from his last statement, and was focusing on the ropes that bound him. Slowly he let his mind picture the bounds releasing him, and discovered the breeze had followed him. It coiled itself around the ropes and slowly separated the strands one by one until the ropes lay on the floor as the blond stood. Several soldiers meant to shoot at him with their guns, but found that the breeze had twisted and bent the pistols so no bullet could be shot from them. Edward muttered a quiet thank you to the breeze, as it twisted the other guns till they could not be used.

"Wh-what the heck is that!?" cried some of them, as they felt the breeze rustle amongst them and lift an unsuspecting victim from the pack of soldiers. The breeze tossed the soldier against the wall. Hard. Everyone in the room could hear the bone shattering, and could see the crimson liquid flow from his broken and splintered neck. The blond held a feral grin, and turned his back on the chaos caused by the breeze.

"I'm leaving, and this time, do not follow me," he growled, glaring specially at Envy, before crashing through a window and leaving.

-

A pain traveled up and down his spine as the blond fell into a fit full sleep. Or rather the memory of the day of and after he had fled from Resembol.

_The young blond had been reading through the books on human transmutation just to make sure they would get it right, when he noticed a page he hadn't seen before. Edward's eyes scanned over the page, and he dropped the book in surprise. Doing human transmutation would cause either he or Al to be killed! He couldn't have that, so the blond decided he would leave, since his younger brother wouldn't believe him because he wanted to see their mother again. Quickly he packed extra clothes, toothbrush, and other random essentials. On a whim he tore out the page that stated the price of human transmutation, and ran out of the house. Tears trickled down his face as he fled, shocked and fearful of what he had been going to put Al through... _

_Later that night when he was re-reading the page by firelight, he noticed someone's writing scrawled in the margin of the page. _Human transmutation on live humans was a success. _It works if the human was alive? Ed, being a naive and foolish child, wondered if he could use human transmutation on himself, and decided to try it._

_Using a piece of charcoal from the fire he drew the circle, and the markings that went on his own body. Clapping his hands together when he was in the middle of the circle, he pressed his hands down upon the cavern floor. The alchemic reaction flared up around him, and he found himself standing before an ancient black gate in a field of pure white._

_"What...?" he wondered in awe, when he saw something move in front of the Gate._

_"A human you performed transmutation upon himself... How wonderful to have a new child to recreate," a voice said, and the Gate opened partially. Tiny black arms and hands shoot out and dragged the blond, who was now screaming, into the Gate. One of the hands wrenched his soul from his body, causing him to stare at his own pale form as the hands began to devour it. He found he could not even scream, nor move. _

_"Now... What to turn you into? A snake? No... How about a cat? Hmm... I know," the voice whispered in his mind. _

_The blond felt himself being forced to walk on four legs, and his body changing. It hurt. A lot. Pain traveled throughout his soul, as whatever this was messed with his body. If he could cry, he would. Slowly the pain retreated, leaving him feeling cold, and sprawled out upon the cave floor. He panicked as he found he could not stand, but then slowly realized he had to walk on four legs. Slowly he crept out of the cave, and peered into the small pond that was outside of the place. What he saw gave him a terrible shock._

_He looked like a manticore! Those man-eating creatures of myth, and this was impossible! He still had a vaguely human face, with golden eyes. His lean cat-like frame was covered in soft golden colored fur that was decorated with brown spots and bars. His front paws were very similar to a gorilla's, in the manner that he seemed to walk on his knuckles like one, and they were strangely human. And he had small opposable thumbs. His tail that trailed out behind him was long, and the end was covered in quills, and were obviously poisonous._

_Oh hell._

-

Uh-huh. Expect the next chapter tomorrow. I see little of manticores, and little knowledge of them. And since lots of animals fear them, I decided to make Ed one! Or at least the Gate to turn him into one... (: Oh and Eon's not going to write a FMA chapter story. He's doing a Vampire Knight one. So whatever. --

R & R please and thank you.


	5. Creature Hunt

People don't seem to know what a manticore is. D: So I shall give a little mythical creature lesson! :DDD

The manticore was originally "seen" in Persia, it is a feared, man-eating manticore, or manticora, and is also said to have been "seen" in the jungles of Brazil and Indonesia, as well as the forests in North America and Europe. It has the body of a lion and a tail of poisonous spines that some people say can be shot like arrows, making it a lethal predator. The poison gland in the quill continues to contract poison through the hollow quill, making it lethal even after the quill has been launched. It eats victims whole, using its triple rows of teeth, and leaves no bones behind. Its face is said to resemble a human's, and travelers in marshes have mistaken a manticore for a bearded man from a distance. The manticore's call is melodious, similar to the lower notes of a flute blown together with a trumpet. Despite being a beautiful sound, most animals know to flee when they hear it. Humans should pay attention to this. Manticore mainly eat animals such as deer, antelopes, gazelle, and humans. Sometimes they will catch smaller mammals, such as rabbits, rats, or shrews. The manticore range from being the size of a wolf (Ed's the size of a wolf.) to a tiger. It's rumored they can speak all types of human language.

That's about all I know, and this is all from various sources so... Whatever. (: There! I hope you guys understand what a manticore is now. (:

Anyways this chapter was really fun to write, so I hope it suits your fancy as well.

**Warning **- Killing, man-eating creature, violence, madness, Ed, Envy, etc etc.

-

**Ink Hands**

Creature Hunt

-

When the blond awoke, he found himself as a beast and not a human. He let out a huff, just great. It was painstakingly hard to hold a humane form, and he was quicker in this form. So he might as well stay as a manticore, and wait to enter a human form when he reached a town or city. That would work. A cracking of twigs, and the scent of gunpowder alerted him that the military was still following him. Oh, they could use a good scare. Glancing around, he launched himself into an elder oak, and scrambled up to the middle level branches where he would be hidden enough, but still be able to see the soldiers.

There were five of them, including that General, Envy, and Al. They were obviously confused as they had stopped in the clearing where Ed had spent the night, and were looking around for footprints.

"Where'd he go!?" complained Roy, looking around for any sign of the blond. He received several opinions, and none were vaguely right except the one comment about an "ambush". Of course they wouldn't know it was Ed that was ambushing them...

Eying the closest soldier, he crouched low on the branch, and crept forward. Once he reached the end of the branch, he let out a low call, and slammed into the soldier. The soldier cried out before his throat was crushed in the blond manticore's jaws, and he looked up, licking blood from his jaws. He grinned when he saw the looks of shock and horror on the other's faces.

"Wh-what the fuck is that!?" screeched Al, staring at the feline creature as it turned to eat the soldier.

"I'd like to know too..." muttered Envy, confused at the sight of a human faced cat.

Ed licked his jaws and turned away from the half-eaten soldier, the soldier tasted fairly disgusting, and would probably give the blond a stomach ache if he continued to eat him. Giving a snort, he was thankful for being able to speak human in this form, "A manticore, human, is what I am." His voice was melodious, but fairly similar to his human one had been. Still it would cause the animals of the area to flee.

"What..? But, manticore aren't real! They can't be!" Roy accused, glaring at the beast.

"Then you're saying homunculus aren't either, and there is one standing right next to you. And besides, can't you believe what you see?" answered the blond, taking to sitting on his haunches. The remaining regular soldier moved to fire his gun at the beast, but found that the blond had flicked his tail, causing a single quill to lodge itself into the soldier's throat. The soldier made a gurgling sound as the flesh of his neck to black and fell over, dead in a heartbeat.

Glaring spitefully at the beast for killing another of his soldiers, he snapped, "You're probably just a well done chimera!"

That did it, so the blond jumped on Roy, and pinned the human to the ground, snarling in the pale face. "Yes, yes, and you are probably a troll in disguise trying to trick women into coming with you so you can feast on their flesh, no?"

It seems Al finally came about himself and had some sense, "Brother...? Is.. Is.. this what that fake you turned you into?"

The manticore walked back over to the tree he had been hiding in, and sat down, tilting his head in thought. He silently figured this would be best to lie about, and say that he had been turned into this by something else. That was true, but he was the same as the person they were hunting.. So.. Yes it would be best to lie. "Yes... Al..." he said slowly, looking away, pretending he couldn't bare to face his brother.

"Then you'll tell us why you left?" Al asked cheerfully.

Ed nodded, but frowned slightly. His ears folded back, and he stood up and turned of into the direction of the mountain range. "Yes, but not here, it isn't safe," he growled, glancing around as if expecting something to come leaping out at them.

"Why?" asked Envy, once more finding himself truly curious.

The blond manticore snorted before answering, "The trees have ears, and I'm not the only 'mythical' creature as you call us, around. After all to create something, one must have seen it before, no? So therefore creatures like dragons, trolls, and such do exist. I have a feeling you'll be meeting them soon enough. So let's go, before I change my mind."

Then he lunged through the undergrowth, stopping to allow the others to catch up now and then before continuing. Soon they were deep within the forest, and the blond showed no sign of stopping. In a mid run he stopped to a halt, and looked around warily. Before him was a large cluster of rocks, with an old withering oak growing over it. A single, gnarled branch loomed over a wooden door that looked like it was wildly slapped onto a large hole in one of the rocks. A black, rabbit-eared, goat-horned, four-eared creature scuttled down to perch on the overhanging branch. Handing from a prehensile tail, golden eyes fixated on his visitors.

"Hoo, hoo, who have we here? I recognize the blond manticore - as according to the other manticore, being the color of gold is a symbol of great power, no Edward? But I do not recognize the humans. Though the younger one reminds me of Edward, well will you speak, Edward?" the black creature asked, sounding very sophisticated for hanging upside down.

The blond huffed, "Yes I will, black phooka. The one that reminds you of me is my younger brother, if you must know. The one that looks like a damn palm tree is a homunculus named Envy. The pale bastard is General Roy Mustang of the military, what, you want to record this event in your mind, trickster?"

"Hoo, you know me too well, my blond friend, now then let's get inside, I fear what may be listening. After all, I haven't even heard all of your past, now in, in," the phooka beckoned, the door swinging open. The manticore waited patiently as the three military figures walked into the half above, and half below cavern, before walking inside with the phooka sitting on his back. The door shut with a clang, and he listened as the phooka muttered something, most likely something to prevent unwanted ears to hear.

Within the cavern, lanterns were strung from the roots of the oak that made up the roof of the cavern. The lanterns caused warm shadows to cover the surprisingly large cave. The dirt floor was soft, and simply seemed to be sand and nothing more. They were in the center cavern it appeared, as several dark holes appeared to lead to other places. A table was set off to the side, with fruits and bread placed in bowls upon it. At the center of the cavern lay a clear blue pool, that was only around two or three feet deep. The phooka jumped off of the blond's back, and trotted over to the table, and plucked out a few blackberries, devouring them in seconds.

The blond had walked over to the pool, and had bent down to lap water out of the pool before laying down in a dry spot in the sand. The three military figures noticed a pile of cushions had appeared behind them to sit in, and warily they sat down. The phooka had returned to his perch on the manticore's back.

"So are you going to tell us now, brother?" asked Al, looking curiously about the cave, noticing that some things had changed as he looked about. Such as the fact that the five dark holes that obviously led to other parts of the cave had relocated themselves. Also, the roots of the tree seemed to be moving about like snakes, but the lanterns stayed in the same place. He decided this place was creepy, and strange.

"Hoo, hoo, yes please begin Edward. Please start from when you left your, ah, brother was it? Oh, I shall have a delightful story to tell future phooka! Delightful, wonderful, delicious, mesmerizing, and all those other complimentary words out there. Please do start now, Edward," the phooka said, still with that sophisticated tone.

The manticore sighed deeply, before shifting ever so slightly so he was facing the three humanoid figures.

"Alright..."

-

Um... Yeah. So anyways I figured if I had a manticore in here, I'd have to have other mythical creatures too... Please tell me you know what a phooka is... If not... Just google it or something. (:

Anyways yeah, I might not be able to update for a while because I'm going on vacation. But I'll surely have a chapter for this and the sixth chapter for my other fic up on Wednesday, then you won't get updates for a week. 'Cause I'll be in St. Louis, Missouri, for a week. At least, I think its in Missouri. Then I'll have more chapters uploaded. Since I'll probably be writing them down in my notebooks or something. xD

R & R peeps, please and thank ya.


	6. The Past

All I got to say is it is mostly dialouge... 'Cause Ed's telling a story. xD

Warnings - Violence, swearing, madness, Ed, Envy, etc etc.

-

**Ink Hands**

The Past

-

"Well you see - a few hours before Al and I were to perform the human transmutation to revive our mother, I discovered something in the book that spoke of human transmutation. A page we had not read before, and it spoke of how human transmutation was highly risky, and would not succeed for the inexperienced. So I was frantic about what to do - I couldn't really face Al with this news, could I? Well at that point, I couldn't. So while you went to Winry's to collect some of the things we would need, claiming it was for some other form of alchemy project, I packed a few essentials into a backpack. I tore that certain page from the book, and fled. I ran deep into the woods, and found a clearing with a cave. Not this one of course, that would be an impossibly far walk. There I reread that page many times. After reading it for the, oh, fifth time maybe? - I found that it was two pages stuck together, and pulled them apart. The new part that I hadn't read, was a detailed description of performing human transmutation on a real human. I saw someone's hand writing in the margin that said, 'It is proven by a few underground scientists to work with a little help by-' The name of the person who provided the help was crossed out. So I was curious, and decided to perform the human transmutation on myself."

The manticore paused, clearing editing out the ingredients and parts of the transmutation so that none of the present would copy it for themselves.

"After the alchemic reaction, I found myself in an expanse of white, with a large black Gate in front of me. I heard a voice speaking about having a human to change, and then I was sucked into the Gate. My soul was removed from my body, and tiny black hands - er - edited my soul, and clearly threw the shell of my body somewhere - which is probably what you have been meeting."

The part of having the shell of his body thrown elsewhere was a lie, he watched the little black things devour it, delighted upon having human flesh.

"After the pain receded, I learned a great deal of information from the Gate - which is more correctly known as the Truth. The Truth contains all information of the world, and how to do many things. What brought about the creation of the world - where souls came from, why humans are how they are. How there were no such things as gods, and that religion is all heresay, and so on. So much knowledge, and the Truth thrust only a small part into my mind at the time being. Or rather a small piece that would soon grow till I am a living version of the Truth. But that will take years, and I might not survive at all. All I know is that I know only about one one-hundredth of the knowledge that was in the Truth. Which is probably why the Truth turned me into something that lives a long time alone."

He edited more as he took in the expressions of the three... four counting the phooka.

"When I awoke I was like this - except... cuter and smaller, I guess. After traveling for a while, and found out the first thing the Truth taught me is how to maintain a human form, so I took one. Of course I was still little at that point. It is hard for many creatures to maintain human forms, so we usually only approach drunk humans. Anyways I was wandering in an alley at this point, and I was terribly confused so I didn't notice the drunk man until he grabbed me. Then he-"

The manticore's face scrunched up at the unpleasant thought and he stood, causing the phooka to skitter over to Roy, Al, and Envy. He really didn't want to speak of it, and he had started to shudder. Also he could smell the fear coil off of the three as his story continued - since he figured they thought it was something extremely terrible. Which it was.

"-Well to put it bluntly... Raped me... So I could no longer trust anything appearing human, because that image keeps repeating in my head. After that incident had happened, I fled in the form you see me now into the neighboring forest. There this phooka saved my sorry ass, he explained to me why humans naturally seem to go after the nonhuman in violent and unusual ways. He also taught me the rules, and limitations of being one of the, uh, fantastical creatures. Such as few creatures, including dragons, and more such as the Queens or Kings of the Faerie courts hardly ever try to go against manticore, as we are very dangerous beasts. I learned I have more freedom as a manticore than that of other creatures, and that because I was gold of color, other manticore would respect my unusual coloring."

He let the others digest this information, as this part was all truth, and no lie.

"Then I lived alone in the mountains for a while, and came upon the mining town where my 'body' lived as a thing with a soul. We met, and I decided to let him alone. As I did not wish to harm a soul that had needed a body instead of wandering around forever, and left. Then I lived as a manticore, and attended several Unseelie Court's, uh, parties. Much to the displeasure of the Queen, and her servants. Anyways I heard the news that someone had discovered my... the new Ed, or 'Beast's, antics and had captured him. And then I found you here, and decided to scare you."

The thing about his body was a lie of course, but the part about the Unseelie was dead true... And hell, it had been a blast.

Now to see their reactions to his story.

-

Yay... Now no more updates for this for a week or so. I might do one Thursday night, or something. D:

Anyways I am working on a Death of a Believer chapter, so expect that later... Or tomorrow morning.

Ohyeahs - for those of you who might like Vampire Knights, Eon's writing a story of ShikixIchijou... A chapter one... Something about how there are few of those, and everyone likes pairing Shiki with some vamp chic called Rima...? Well anyways if you like vampires check it out, I guess. It'll be out either later tonight or tomorrow even. 'Cept he won't be able to update for a bit 'cause he's coming on vacation with me. (:

R & R peeps. :DDD


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